A lunchtime runner newbie

I finally did it.

I've read about so many bloggers who sneak in runs over their lunch hour at work. Me? Never. Yes, I get an hour for lunch, so I could totally squeeze in a few miles. But I'm a heavy sweater. It's not pretty. A short 2 or 3 mile run would leave me dripping in sweat. A shower would be necessary. Trust me.

So I've never run on my lunch break.

But today? Today I did.

See last night was election night. And since it took FOREVER for results to come in, I was at work super late. Meaning even if I wanted to, it would be really difficult to get up early and get the run in before work. And normally I wouldn't worry about it. But tonight? I had plans with my friend Jess after work. A little girls' night: a seminar on core work at Fleet Feet and dinner. So if I wanted to log the 3 miles I needed today, I'd have to figure something out.

Lunchtime it was.

I packed my gym bag and adding in the shower necessities. Since I worked late the first two days this week, I have a few extra hours to play with, so I could take a longer lunch. As the noon hour approached, I was getting a bit nervous. Would I be able to fit the 3 miles in, shower and be able to go pick up something to eat at my desk?

The clock struck noon and I bolted from my desk. By 12:10 I was at the YMCA (a perk to working in an office one block away from the YMCA), had changed and was upstairs securing myself a treadmill. And by 12:11 I was running. I just had to do a quick 3 miles with some "faster" miles thrown in. So after a half-mile warm up it was time to set the treadmill to a 9:30 min/mile pace. Twenty-five minutes later I had 3.1 miles done and I was sweating buckets.

Time to shower, get dressed and reapply makeup. It was hard to stay dried off in the locker room. A bit warm in there, but I did the best I could. Threw the hair back in a wet ponytail and I was out the door with 15 minutes to get myself some lunch. A quick stop at the bagel shop and I was back at my desk with 1 minute to spare.

Lunchtime run done.

It was nice being able to run over my break, but I'm not sure if I'd like to do it on a regular basis. I felt a bit rushed. And for some reason I still felt sweaty an hour after drying off after the shower. But I'm glad I did it and glad to know that the lunchtime run option exists for me if I ever run into days like this again.